Laws of Arathor
The Laws of Arathor are a combined text of tablets forged with the founding of the first Kingdom of Stromgarde, later to be upheld by the Kingdom of Arathor, and all Empires proceeding. The Laws are viewed as a revival to Arathor's once glorious past. Words Italicized are amendments to the supreme laws of the lands, approved by the current Arathorian government. '' Preamble To these laws of Arathor may ever hold true as to be the guiding hand of our great empire. May they provide us with a long-lasting legislature that shall govern those of the lands of the Empire. To these laws, the High Council of Arathor may edit and amend these laws to be good and current to the present affairs of the Empire, and may these laws be ever-present in our society. These laws, approved by the High Council of Arathor are the supreme law of the jurisdictional borders of the Empire of Arathor, such borders being and including the Thandol Span in the south, the Throndroril River in the West, and the mountains in the North. A presiding lawman shall approve and deem fit punishment to those who who forsake and not abide by these laws, the supreme Law of the Arathorian Empire. Tablet I; Regarding Magistrate Cases * If anyone summons a man before the magistrate, he must go. If the man summoned does not go, let the one summoning him call the bystanders to witness and then take him by force. * If he shirks or runs away, let the summoner lay hands on him. * When the litigants settle their case by compromise, let the magistrate announce it. If they do not compromise, let them state each his own side of the case, in the comitium of the forum before noon. Afterwards let them talk it out together, while both are present. After noon, in case either party has failed to appear, let the magistrate pronounce judgment in favor of the one who is present. If both are present the trial may last until sunset but no later. * He whose witness has failed to appear may summon him by loud calls before his house every third day. Tablet II; Regarding Debt * One who has confessed a debt, or against whom judgment has been pronounced, shall have thirty days to pay it in. After that forcible seizure of his person is allowed. * The creditor shall bring him before the magistrate. Unless he pays the amount of the judgment or some one in the presence of the magistrate interferes in his behalf as protector the creditor so shall take him home and fasten him in stocks or fetters. * He shall fasten him with not less than fifteen pounds of weight or, if he choose, with more. * If the prisoner choose, he may furnish his own food. If he does not, the creditor must give him a pound of meal daily; if he choose he may give him more. Against a foreigner the right in property shall be valid forever. Tablet III; Regarding Children * A dreadfully deformed child shall be quickly killed. * A child born after ten months since the father's death will not be admitted into a legal inheritance. Tablet IV; Regarding Property * When one makes a bond and a conveyance of property, as he has made formal declaration so let it be binding. * Should a tree on a neighbor's farm be bent crooked by the wind and lean over your farm, you may take legal action for removal of that tree. * A man might gather up fruit that was falling down onto another man's farm. Tablet V; Regarding Assault * If one has maimed a limb and does not compromise with the injured person, or if one has broken a bone of a freeman with his hand or with a cudgel, let him pay a penalty of two hundred and seventy five gold coins, along with a minor to moderate prison sentence attached. ** If one is guilty of insult, the penalty shall be twenty-five silver coins. Tablet VI; Regarding Theft * If one is slain while committing theft by night, he is rightly slain. Tablet VII; Regarding Vandalism * Any person who destroys by burning any building or heap of corn deposited alongside a house shall be bound, scourged, and put to death by burning at the stake provided that he has committed the said misdeed with malice aforethought; but if he shall have committed it by accident, that is, by negligence, it is ordained that he repair the damage or, if he be too poor to be competent for such punishment, he shall receive a lighter punishment. Tablet VIII; Regarding Laws Unlisted * No person shall hold meetings by night in the city. * The penalty shall be capital for a judge or arbiter legally appointed who has been found guilty of receiving a bribe for giving a decision. * Treason: he who shall have roused up a public enemy or handed over a citizen to a public enemy must suffer capital punishment. * Putting to death of any man, whosoever he might be unconvicted is forbidden. * None is to bury or burn a corpse in the city. * Whatever the people had last ordained should be held as binding by law. * Magic in the form of necromany, hemomancy, and demonology is forbidden, unless given permission by the Empire or in war times. Tablet IX: Regarding Governance * The Church is to be kept seperate from the Empire. * ''Imperator Lionblood rules over the Empire until such time that Danath Trollbane returns to the Throne, at which time leadership will be given to him. Category:Law Category:Legal Documents Category:Kingdom of Arathor Category:Legion of Arathor